Ireland has a lot to offer the traveler besides its famously green countryside and popular traditional music. It is rich on【M1】______ prehistoric and Medieval ruins, fine Georgian architecture, and art. For those interested in literature, it is also the homeland of a great deal of the English language's finest writers: Swift,【M2】______ Wilde, Shaw, Yeats, O'Casey, Beckett, Behan, and—most famous of all—James Joyce. The Irish are intense proud of their writers, 【M3】______ and literary memorials are scattered all over the country, and frequently visited. Unlike Northern Ireland, about which we hear so often in the news, the nation of Eire, that makes up most of the island, gained 【M4】______ its dependence formally in 1921 and completely separated from 【M5】______ the United Kingdom in 1949. Although memories of the long struggle for independence are everywhere, but Ireland is also a very 【M6】______ modern nation. In the 1990s it experienced high-tech boom which 【M7】______ created widespread prosperity. In the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, some of that prosperity have dwindled, and the Irish are struggling with 【M8】______ a declining economy; but the country is still presents a bright, modern 【M9】______ face to the world. It is a participating member of the European Monetary Union, so we had our first chance to use Euros on this trip. Although the bills are generic across the Union, coins have a reverse side illustrating some aspect of their country of origin—in case of Ireland, 【M10】______ a Celtic harp. 【M1】